Paul Lentz, Author
  • Blog
  • Authors of Note
  • Contact

Why "Happy Holidays"?

12/5/2016

 
​Between 1 November and 15 January, there are at least 25 holidays or Holy days celebrated by Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Seculars, Sikhs, Wiccans, and Merchants. Here are the ones I found. All are Christian except where noted.
 
All Saints’ Day, All Souls' Day, Guru Nanak Birthday (Sikh), Bodhi Day (Buddhist), Diwali/Deepavali (Hindu), Christ the King, Guru Tegh Bahadur Martyrdom (Sikh), Thanksgiving (multiple), Black Friday (merchants), Cyber Monday (merchants), First Day of Advent, St. Andrew’s Day, St. Nicholas Day, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Last day of Chanukah (Jewish), Solstice (Wiccan, others), The Prophet’s Birthday/Milad un Nabi (Islam), Festivus (secular), Christmas, Kwanzaa (multiple), Boxing Day (secular) & Holy Innocents, New Year’s Eve (multiple) /Watch Night, New Year’s Day (multiple and those recovering from New Year's Eve), Epiphany, Eastern Orthodox Xmas, Orthodox New Year, Makarsankranti/Pongal (Hindu).
 
Some people may celebrate none of these, and I may have missed a few in my research.
 
Therefore, in the Spirit of the Season (Autumn, approaching Winter) I wish everyone “Happy Holidays.”
 
I enjoy the gift giving, parties, drinking, and dinners associated with various holidays. I enjoy the spirit of goodwill that accompanies some holidays. I also believe in the phrase from a popular song, “…be good for goodness sake.” Be good because being good is good. Do the right thing not because you fear punishment if you don’t or reward if you do, but do the right thing because it is the right thing.
 
As I look over the list of holidays and Holy Days, and think of the various religious beliefs that underlie many of them, I am reminded of words of John Stuart Mill in his essay, On Liberty: “The same causes that make a person an Anglican in London would make him a Buddhist or a Confucian in Peking.”
 
What Mill was suggesting is that beliefs are inculcated in children, frequently through repetition and memorization (I think of the “Child’s Catechism” which I memorized). We know, or should know, that once an idea is planted in a person’s mind, especially before the person is really capable of independent thought, it is very difficult to change that idea. Our minds build walls behind which ideas hide. Information that supports that idea easily penetrates the wall. Information which contradicts the idea not only is blocked by the wall (perceptual filters) but also makes the wall stronger.
 
To paraphrase Mill: The idea that truth always triumphs is one of those pleasant falsehoods which we repeat until they pass into aphorisms, but which all experience refutes.

Comments are closed.

    Author

    Registered Curmudgeon, scientist, skeptic, humanist, and writer.

    Archives

    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016

    Categories

    All
    1984
    2016 Election
    2016 Presidential Campaign
    9th Circuit
    Afghanistan
    Aleppo
    Alien And Sedition Acts
    Alternative Facts
    Alt-right
    Antifa
    Anti-Semitism
    Arms Trade
    Baasad
    Barrel Bombs
    Bigotry
    Biodiversity
    Black Baby Deaths
    Black Lives Matter
    Boko Haram
    Border Wall
    Carrying Capacity
    CFCs HFCs HFOs
    Charlotte Riots
    Clean Coal
    Climate Change
    Climate Denier
    Cognitive Dissonance
    Collapse Of Civilization
    Crumbling Infrastructure
    Daesh (ISIS/ISIL)
    Dark Mountain Manifesto
    Dean Spicer
    Democratic Party Platform
    Donald Trump
    Doublethink
    Down Syndrome
    Duerte
    Dystopia
    Economics 101
    Election 2016
    Equifax
    Evolution
    F-35
    Fake News
    Fallacies Of Logic
    Federal Trade Commission
    First Amendment
    Flag Burning
    Football CTE
    Foxprop
    Fundamentalism
    Gary Johnson
    GBU-43
    Georgia Gasoline Crisis
    Georgia Gasoline Pipeline
    GHG
    Global Climate Change
    Global Warming
    God
    Government Bureaucracy
    Government Shutdown
    Graven Images
    Greenhouse Gas
    Greenhouse Gasses
    Group Think
    Gunboat Diplomacy
    Hacking
    HADO Water Crystals
    "Happy Holidays"
    Harvey
    Hillary Clinton
    Homophobia
    Hurricane Harvey
    Hurricane Irma
    Hurricane Katrina
    Incest
    Income Inequality
    Infant Mortality
    Integration
    Internet Bullying
    Internet Gatekeepers
    Internet Trolls
    Internment Camps
    IPCC
    Irma
    Iron Dome
    ISIS
    Israel
    Jared Diamond
    Kaka
    Katrina
    Kigali Amendment
    Law Of Unintended Consequences
    Leni Riefenstahl
    Libertarian
    Logical Fallacies
    Loose Cannon
    Lynching
    Malthus
    Malthusian Solution
    Marine Corps
    Marriage
    Masura Emoto
    Methane Emission Rule
    Milancovic Cycles
    Misogyny
    MOAB
    Montreal Protocol
    Mt. Pinatubo
    Mt. Tambora
    Muslim Ban
    Nazis
    Neo-Nazi
    Newnan
    Newspeech
    News Sources
    Nuclear Arsenal
    Nuclear Warfare
    Obama
    Opiate Of The Massives
    Organized Religion
    Orwell 1984
    Out Of Africa
    Ozone Hole
    Perceptual Filters
    Peter Abelard
    Pity The Children
    Politcal Correctness
    Polygamy
    Prisons Of Our Minds
    Propaganda
    Proxy War
    Putin
    Qatar
    Rally In Newnan
    Recycling
    Red Herrings
    Republican Convention
    Republican Party Platform
    Righteous Right
    Robert Mercer
    Russian Cyber Attacks
    Russian Hacking
    Russian Internet Trolls
    Scorched-earth
    SCOTUS
    Scotus Nominee
    Sexual Dimorphism
    Social Media
    Solar Eclipse
    Stream Protection Rule
    Sunspots
    Syria
    Tardisboy
    Teflon Don
    Ten Commandments
    Terrorism
    The Coming Collapse
    Third Presidential Debate
    Trigger Warnings
    Trump
    Trump 2020
    Trump Ad Hominem
    Trump And Climate
    Trump And EPA
    Trump Cabinet
    Trump China Policy
    Trump Executive Order
    Trump Legacy
    Trump Lies
    Trump's Chumps
    USMC
    War On Drugs
    War On Poverty
    Wealth Inequality
    Whale Song
    White Supremacists
    White Supremacy
    WikiLeaks
    Willing Suspension Of Disbelief
    Writing Fiction
    Young Earth Creationism
    Zero Tolerance
    Zero-Tolerance
    Zika Virus

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog
  • Authors of Note
  • Contact
✕